Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-15

S WAC Ahoai NAiC GdLtT, ui@l hlcNI II.
Ihlnk OF q face, If thou wilt, and il shall
be reflected from thy mind upon the water.
l know not all the secret yeti can read
nothing in the future. But it is an old
secret; | did not discover it. In Arabia
ana IN Egypt the sorcercrs knew it cen
turtles ago. So one day | CHANGED To be.
Think me of that old canal-some twenty
centuries g | sailed up it-and | was
minded TO look upon it again. And so |
looked, and there | saw the boat and three
men walking, and one, whose face / could
not see, but "A youth Of q noble form, sleep.
ing in the boat, and SO | sent and saved We.
AND now farewell. But stay, tell me of
TINS youth--the Lion, as the old man calls
him. | would look upon him, but he is
sick, thou sayest-sick with the fever, and
also wounded in the Fray
"He is very SICK" / answered, sadly.
"Canst thou do nothing for him, oh, queen,
who knowest 50 much?"
"Ot a surety ! can. | can cure him, but
why speakest thou SO sadly? Dost thou
love the youth? Is he perchance tiny SOM"
lie is my adopted son, oh, queen. Shall
he be brought in before theeY'
Nay, How long hath the fever taken
him?"
ANS IS TIC thtfd day."
Good; then let him lie another day.
Then will he pcrchance throw it OF by his
W strength, and that is better than that
| should cure him, for my medicine is OF n
sort to shake the life in its very citadel.
If, however, by tomorrow night, at that
hour when the fever first took him, he
doth not begin to mend, then will / come
to him and cure him. Stay, who nurses
him?'
Our white servant, he whom Billali
names the Pig; also'-and here / spoke
with some little hesitation-"a woman
name Ustane, a very handsome woman OF
this country, who came and kissed him
when first she saw him, and hath stayed
by him ever since, rs | understand is the
fashion OF thy people, oh, queen"
My people! Speak not TO me Of my PEG
pie she answered, hastily; these slaves
are not people Of mine; they are but dog,
to Go my bidding till the day Of my re-
dempti0n comes; and as for their customs,
naught have | TO do with them. Also, cali
me not queen-I am sick of ilattery and
titles-call me Ayesha; the name hath D
sweet sound III mine ears; it is an echo
from the past. As for this Ustane, l know
not. | wonder If it be she against whom ]
was warned, and whom ! ia turn did warn.
Hath she-Stay, | will sce;' and bending
forward, she passed her hand over the font
of water and gazed ~intently into it. "See,"
she said, quietly, sis that the woman?"
| looked into the water, and there, mir.
rorcd upon its placid surface, was the sill
houette Of distances stately face. She was
bending forward, with a look Of infinite
tenderness upon her features, watching
something beneath her. and with her
chestnut locks falling on to bar right Shout
der.
1T is She" | said, in n low voice, for
| once more | felt much disturbed at this
most uncommon sight. Ssh watches Leo
asleep =
Leo said Ayesba, in an absent voice:
'why, that is lion in the Latin tongue.
The old man hath named happily FOR once.
1t is very stran-e." she went On-"very.
! So like-but it is not possible With an
inpatient gesture she passed her hand over
the water once more. K darkcned, and
the image vanished silently and mysteri
ously It's il had arisen, and once more the
lamp-light, and the lamp-light only, shone
on the placid surface of that limpid, living
mirror.
Hast thou aught To ask me before thou
goest, oh, Holly" she said, after a few
| moments reflection. at Is but a rude life
that thou must live here, for these people
are sayages, and know not the ways Of cul.
tivated man. Not hat | am troubled there
by, for, behold my food" and she pointed
to the fruit upon the little table. "Naught
but fruit doth ever pass my lips-fruit and
a little water. | have hidden my girls to
wait upon thee. They are muteS, thou
kuowest, deaf are they ana dumb, and
therefore the safest OF servants, save tc
those who can read their faces and theiI
signs. I bred them 50: Il hath taken many
centuries and much trouble, bat at last ]
have succeeded. once | succeeded before,
but the race was too ugly, so I did away
with it; but now, as thou seest, they are
otherwise. Once, too, / bred n race of
giants, but after a while Nature would no
more of it, and it died away. Hast thou
aught to ask OF me?'
LAY, one thing, oh, Ayesha." I said,
boldly, but feeling by no means as bold as
j trust / looked. Il would gaze upon thy
face
she laughed out in her bell like notes
"Bethink thee, Holly" she answered
"bethink thee. 1t seems that thou know
est lHe Olu IlyDnS Ol illS EOuS VI IIetCt.
Wa there not one Actm0n who persisted
miserably because he looked on too much
beauty? II show thee my face, ~perchance
thou wouldst perish miserably also; per-
chance thou wouldst eat out thy heart in
impotent desire; for know ! am not for
thee; / am for no man, save one, who hath
been, but is not yet"
GAS thou wilt, Ayesha," / said. 81 fear
o thy beauty. have put my heart away
from such ~vanities as woman's loneliness,
that passes like a flower"
Nay, thou crest she said; "that does
not pass. Ny beauty endures even as /
endure; still if thou wilt, oh. rash man,
nave thy will; but blame not me if passion
mount thy reason, rs the Egyptian break
ers used To mount IL horse. and guide il
whittier thou wilt not. Never may the
man to whom my beauty hath been un-
yelled put it from his mind, and therefore
even with these sayages do / go yelled. lest
they veX me, and ! should Stay them. Say,
wilt thou see?"
II will" / answered, my curiosity oyer
towering me.
She lifted her white and rounded arms
never had l seen such arms beforehand
slowly, very slowly, withdrew some fast
ening beneath her hair. Then all Of q sud
den the long, corpse-lihe ~wrappings fell
from her, and my eyes travelled up her